Instructions
Purpose: Increase understanding of the economic concepts of unemployment, labor force participation, and inflation; practice research techniques to pull current and historical data; and then connect the changes in data to possible real-world causes.
Task: Working individually, each student will investigate the macroeconomic variables for one state in the USA in order to compare current levels to those of the past. Type up a 4-5 paragraph (minimum of 4-5 sentences each) essay. Be sure to include a citation for all sources used.
Selection of State: You may select any state (other than Georgia) that starts with a letter that is closest to the first letter of your last name. Examples: 1. A student with the last name of “Matthews” could select one of 8 states that all begin with the letter M. 2. A student with the last name of “Bowen” would have 7 options: selecting either one of the “A” letter states or one of the “C” letter states. If you have questions regarding if a state fits these parameters, please contact your instructor.
Criteria: Select at least one macroeconomic variable to explore for your state (level of unemployment, employment trends, labor force participation, inflation, etc). Any variable that has been covered here in Unit 4 (or our previous units) is fine to include.
Using sources such as the1. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2. FRED: Economic Data by the St. Louis Fed, or other reliable resources (you will need to include a listing of sources used; so be sure to save information on each one you use), provide the current data (with “current” defined as within the past 12 months) and then compare to historical trends.
Questions to consider include:
1. What is the current unemployment rate for your state? How has it changed in the past 5 or 10 years? What is at least one potential cause for the changes your state saw in unemployment over the past 5-10 years?
2. What is the current labor force participation rate for your state? How has it changed in the past 5 or 10 years? What may have caused the changes? What is at least one potential cause for the changes your state saw in labor force participation over the past 5-10 years?
3. What was the inflation rate for your state for the past year? How has it changed in the past 5 or 10 years? What is at least one potential cause for the changes your state saw in prices over the past 5-10 years?
4. What changes in industry has your state experienced in the past 10 years? How might new firms entering your state or firms leaving impacted the employment trends in your state?
